BackgroundTraditional Asian and African medicine use immature okra fruits (Abelmoschus esculentus) as mucilaginous food to combat gastritis. Its effectiveness is due to polysaccharides that inhibit the adhesion of Helicobacter pylori to stomach tissue. The present study investigates the antiadhesive effect in mechanistic detail.MethodologyA standardized aqueous fresh extract (Okra FE) from immature okra fruits was used for a quantitative in vitro adhesion assay with FITC-labled H. pylori J99, 2 clinical isolates, AGS cells, and fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Bacterial adhesins affected by FE were pinpointed using a dot-blot overlay assay with immobilized Lewisb, sialyl-Lewisa, H-1, laminin, and fibronectin. 125I-radiolabeled Okra FE polymer served for binding studies to different H. pylori strains and interaction experiments with BabA and SabA. Iron nanoparticles with different coatings were used to investigate the influence of the charge-dependence of an interaction on the H. pylori surface.Principal findingsOkra FE dose-dependently (0.2 to 2 mg/mL) inhibited H. pylori binding to AGS cells. FE inhibited the adhesive binding of membrane proteins BabA, SabA, and HpA to its specific ligands. Radiolabeled compounds from FE bound non-specifically to different strains of H. pylori, as well as to BabA/SabA deficient mutants, indicating an interaction with a still-unknown membrane structure in the vicinity of the adhesins. The binding depended on the charge of the inhibitors. Okra FE did not lead to subsequent feedback regulation or increased expression of adhesins or virulence factors.ConclusionNon-specific interactions between high molecular compounds from okra fruits and the H. pylori surface lead to strong antiadhesive effects.
Polysaccharide containing extracts from immature fruits of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) are known to exhibit antiadhesive effects against bacterial adhesion of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) to stomach tissue. The present study investigates structural and functional features of polymers responsible for this inhibition of bacterial attachment to host cells. Ammonium sulfate precipitation of an aqueous extract yielded two fractions at 60% and 90% saturation with significant antiadhesive effects against H. pylori, strain J99, (FE60% 68% ± 15%; FE90% 75% ± 11% inhibition rates) after preincubation of the bacteria at 1 mg/mL. Sequential extraction of okra fruits yielded hot buffer soluble solids (HBSS) with dose dependent antiadhesive effects against strain J99 and three clinical isolates. Preincubation of H. pylori with HBSS (1 mg/mL) led to reduced binding to 3ʹ-sialyl lactose, sialylated Le a and Le x . A reduction of bacterial binding to ligands complementary to BabA and SabA was observed when bacteria were pretreated with FE90%. Structural analysis of the antiadhesive polysaccharides (molecular weight, monomer composition, linkage analysis, stereochemistry, and acetylation) indicated the presence of acetylated rhamnogalacturonan-I polymers, decorated with short galactose side chains. Deacetylation of HBSS and FE90% resulted in loss of the antiadhesive activity, indicating esterification being a prerequisite for antiadhesive activity.
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